Contemporary society thinks in terms of the West vs the East, but in Biblical times the geopolitics were arranged north and south of the Mediterranean. At the time of Christ’s first coming the King of the North was the Roman Caesar.
- 100 BC Gaius (first name) Julius (last name – father’s family) Caesar (clan), a patrician whose heritage dated back to the gods
- 58-51 BC – conquers and incorporates the border territory of Gaul (northern Italy and southern France) into Rome, equivalent to achieving America’s Manifest Destiny’s belief in the unfolding of a divine plan, a natural progression of a superior civilization.
- 84 BC – appointed high priest of most high god Jupiter / Greek Zeus
- 63 BC – elected Pontifex Maximus / high priest of Rome’s state religion. After the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire n 1453 and the death of the final Roman emperor Constantine XI, this role and title was transferred to the Papa / Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
- 49 BC – crosses the Rubicon River with his army to start his victorious civil war as imperator / victorious general.
- 47 BC – declared dictator for 10 years per Roman law intended to ensure stability during crisis.
- 44 BC – declared dictator for life after waging world war from Britain to Egypt for 14 years.
Caesar’s next goal to be declared a god-incarnate was moving forward nicely when interrupted by his assassination, but had already accomplished:
- putting his image on Roman coinage – the first for a living Roman,
- having his statues erected in public temples as the High Priest / Vicar / Representative in the flesh of the national god,
- Renaming his birth month, originally Quintilis / Fifth month in ancient Roman calendar after his divine lineage Julus, son of Aeneas Prince of Troy, and also renaming other months in the names of the gods Janus / January, Mars / March, Aphrodite / April, Maia / May to make himself equal to those gods.
Identifying himself with the Roman Mars God of War marks Caesar – and his successor Kings of the North with the biblical Ashur / Assyrian God of War, Rod of Judgment. And history certainly bears this out.
Gaius Julius Caesar’s will making his great-nephew – Gaius Octavius Thurinus his formally adopted heir involved, as even today, that Octavius change his family and clan names to that of his adoptive father. This has the effect of extending the life, power and authority of the original father, as in “I and the father are one.” (John 10:30)
Caesar II was certainly understood to continue his adoptive father’s plan, by claiming to have taken on the spirit of their ancestor god, becoming known as divi Iuli filius (son of the divine Julius), easing into simply divi filius (son of the god). In an unprecedented move in Republican Rome, he used this relationship to be worshiped as a living deity by the title of Augustus, meaning Divine, not waiting until death to be deified like Caesar I.
This action instituted the imperial cult by which all Caesars, as heirs of Julius Caesar, were deified and granted many titles, all of which attributed aspects of divine power and are all appropriated titles of The Promised Seed / Prophesied Savior / Christ.
- Divi Filius, meaning ‘Son of the Divine,’ or ‘Son of God,’ was his favorite title. This title appears on almost every coin minted by Augustus.
- Dominus in Latin, or Kyrios in Greek, which means ‘Lord.’
- Soter, meaning ‘Savior,’ a title conveying that by his victories in battle he had saved the empire from internal political instability, financial ruin, and external threats by foreign powers.
- Princeps, an oxymoron meaning ‘first among equals’, was maintained for the facade of republican government.
23 BC – The Senate gives Augustus complete control, officially ending the Republic.
6 AD – Augustus deposes Herod Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, changing Judaea from an allied independent kingdom into a Roman province.
14 AD – Tiberius Claudius Nero, Agustus’ stepson and heir, ascends to the throne as the living incarnation of divus Augustus with the new name / title / entitlement of Tiberius Caesar Augustus.
And every Caesar since is not simply taking a title but, whether explicitly or not, identifying himself as the incarnation of the national god’s spirit through which the god accomplished his will. In whatever local language – Kaiser / Czar / Tsar – these are the Antichrists of the last World Empire.
37 – Caligula Known for extravagance and cruelty, claims of insanity and bizarre acts, as
41 – Claudius becomes emperor after his nephew is assassinated by members of his Praetorian Guard, Londinium (London) is founded.
54 – Nero accedes to the throne after his mother, Julia Agrippina poisons Claudius (not Nero’s father). She is, in turn, murdered on Nero’s orders in 59. In 64 after the great fire of Rome destroys much of the city, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless, Nero uses the fire as a pretext to begin a persecution of Christians.
68–69 – Nero dies by suicide, four leaders seize power in a civil war —Galba, Otho, Aulus Vitellius, and Vespasian, the victor, establishes the Flavian dynasty ruling for 10 years. The First Jewish Revolt.
70 – Vespasian’s son Titus takes Jerusalem and burns the Temple.
79 – Titus becomes emperor after his father’s death. Romans rule England and Wales as the province of Britannia.
81 – Titus dies suddenly at the age of 41, possibly engineered by his brother who succeeds him.
93–96 – Domitian unleashes a reign of terror against the Senate until murdered by conspirators. He executed or expelled many for their Stoic “views”. Since early Christianity had much in common with Stoicism, with Paul’s reference to the Logos and his appeal to the shared humanity of all peoples – these Stoic views may have been Christian teachings.
96 – Nerva is elected emperor by the Senate and in what becomes a common thread, adopts Trajan as coruler and successor the following year.
98 – Trajan, now sole emperor, extends the boundaries of the empire in the east, conquering Dacia and Armenia, advances into Arabia and Mesopotamia, and attacks Parthia.
117 – Hadrian, who consolidates and unifies the empire, tours the two parts of the empire, including Gaul, Germany, Britain, Spain, North Africa, Athens, and Egypt.
161 – Marcus Aurelius, who makes his adopted brother, Lucius Verus, co-emperor, is considered the golden age of the empire, during which there are constant wars with the Germans across the Danube.
180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor, makes terms with the Germans, and returns from the wars to Rome where he becomes insane, imagining himself as Hercules and renaming Rome the Colony of Commodus, and he is strangled to death
192 – The Senate proclaims Publius Helvius Pertinax emperor, but he is murdered less than three months into his reign, and over the next year four claimants fight for succession—Decimus Clodius Septimus Albinus, Pescennius Niger, Marcus Didius Severus Julianus, and Septimius Severus, who eventually ascends to the throne, ruling jointly with his son Caracalla.
211 – Caracalla proves to be a bloodthirsty tyrant, including killing his wife and brother, while granting Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire.
217 – Macrinus, who led the plot to murder his predecessor Caracalla, briefly seizes power, but becomes unpopular after securing an unfavorable peace with the eternal enemies of Rome, the Parthians / modern Iran and Turkmenistan, and cutting soldiers’ pay.
218 – Elagabalus accedes to the throne but his grandmother / Caracalla’s aunt, Julia Maesa,is the real authority and persuades Elagabalus to adopt his cousin, Severus Alexander, as his son and heir. When Elagabalus attempts to depose Alexander he is killed by his Praetorian Guard.
222- Alexander becomes emperor while Julia Maesa continues to hold the real power until her death in 226. When the Persian King Ardashīr I invades the Roman province of Mesopotamia, Alexander’s counteroffensive fails. However, heavy losses force the Persians to withdraw, allowing Alexander to claim victory. He then attempts to buy peace with the Alemanni, an invading Germanic tribe, alienating his army and soldiers assassinate him.
For the next 50 years there is a period of severe instability as Rome is ruled by more than 20 emperors in 50 years. Parts of the Roman Empire temporarily break off to form the Gallic Empire in the west and the Palmyrene Empire in the east.
284 Diocletian Augustus restores stability by the only means possible – an authoritarian system of government in which the role of the emperor evolved from princeps, or “first among equals,” to dominus, or “master”. He reorganizes the administrative and military machinery, temporarily revitalizing the decaying empire in the West and laying the foundation for a capitol city in the East, with Maximian Augustus managing the west, and himself the east, and appoints Constantius I and Galerius as caesars / heirs in hopes of a smooth transition of power to well-trained successors.
305 – Diocletian and Maximian abdicate and are succeeded by their caesars Galerius and Constantius, with several claimants vying for the title of augustus.
312 – Constantine I wins the battle for Western emperor, becoming the first Christian emperor, issuing the Edict of Milan, establishing tolerance of Christianity throughout the empire as the result of an agreement with Licinius, winner of the battle for Eastern emperor. In 324 Constantine I attacks and defeats Licinius, unifying and becoming emperor of both the Western and Eastern empires. He Christianizes the empire, and in 330 moves the capital from Rome to Constantinople – originally called Nova Roma (“New Rome”, now Istanbul) to take advantage of its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia for military and commercial advantages. It became the first major Roman capital to be Christian from the outset.
476 – German warlord Odoacer conquered the city of Rome, which had become a western outlier in the predominantly Eastern Roman Empire ruled from Constantinople. He and his heirs acknowledged the ruler in Constantinople, only assuming equal status as co-regent over the western half of the empire. This had precedent inRepublican Rome which was headed by two consuls.
